Media contact: Adam Pope
Bibb has been studying neuroendocrine cancer for almost 10 years and has published several reports in high-impact scientific journals. James Bibb, Ph.D., with the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, has been awarded a Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation 2021 Accelerator Award.
Accelerator Award funding — $1.2 million over four years — is the largest NETRF grant in terms of scope, length and money. To be considered for the award, proposals usually have three substantial aims that describe work requiring four years to complete.
An award of this size from the NETRF is often considered equivalent to an NIH R01 grant.
Neuroendocrine tumors, such as those of the pancreas, are expanding in incidence and contribute to cancer mortality. Yet not only are they understudied, but also NIH/NCI funding committed to them is limited. Consequently, there have been no improvements in mortality rates for decades, while treatments are limited.
Bibb, Department of Surgery vice chair of Basic Research, seeks to change this through his lab’s research and the funding from the 2021 Accelerator Award.
Bibb has been studying neuroendocrine cancer for almost 10 years and has published several reports in high-impact scientific journals. Since joining UAB five years ago, Bibb has also established productive collaborations with other neuroendocrine cancer investigators in the department.
Bibb has collaborated with Herbert Chen, M.D., Fay Fletcher Kerner Endowed Chair; Renata Jaskula-Stzul, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Breast and Endocrine Surgery; J. Bart Rose, M.D., chief of Section of Hepatopancreatobiliary Disease; and Sushanth Reddy, M.D., associate director of the Division of Surgical Oncology. This productive collaboration is exemplified in recent papers published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the cancer journal Oncogenesis.
Bibb’s proposal for this NETRF award was selected on the strength of his group’s translational research, which aims to gain mechanistic insight, bring easy-to-generate models, derive diagnostic biomarkers and test new treatments.
He says that the work NETRF is now supporting will have a significant impact on our understanding of the disease and how better to treat it, consistent with the foundation’s goals to transform the NET research landscape by supporting cutting-edge basic and translational research and fostering collaborations.
“This award is an honor, and we will use this Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation funding to further our understanding of NETs in search for treatment and a cure,” Bibb said.
Bibb also serves as a senior scientist with the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB.